


The Coupon

by margesimpson



Category: BoJack Horseman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, Gen, Genderbending, Genderswap, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 07:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18278333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/margesimpson/pseuds/margesimpson
Summary: BoJane Sugarman pays her old friend a visit.





	The Coupon

**Author's Note:**

> AKA nobody asked for BoJack genderswap but here I am!!!   
> Also, everybody should make more judah/todd content

BoJane turned the coupon in her hands over and over in the car for what she thought was minutes.

 

 In this weather, she shouldn’t be sweating so much. Especially at night. She felt that her sudden anxiety of visiting old friends was triggered by King Carl’s reaction to seeing her months later on his doorstep to only talk about where Tina was staying this week. She felt she was quite on the ball up till then. Which was an hour ago, according to the radio. She drummed her fingers on the wheel to the beat of _Here Comes the Sun_ and whistles. And then sighs. She doesn’t even like this song that much.

 

Alright, BoJane Sugarman. You are a full-grown horse. Let’s go.

 

BoJane internally curses Tina for being on the third floor and whoever decided giving birth in the only elevator in the entire building was a genius idea. Not that BoJane will ever understand Tina’s mind, or how it must be like to be a mother.

 

She knocks tentatively on the door. There are a few seconds of an interim. Then she knocks harder.

 

 The woman that answers is not the little, chipmunk-cheeked, black-haired squirt she met back in 2009. Instead, she’s tall, tanned and her hair is so long and luxurious that BoJane has a suspicion that one of her parents is an Andalusian horse. (Just a hunch). BoJane wonders in the moment how much a person can change within year.

 

“Oh,” her voice is like coffee, “you’re the actress that played the titular horse from the cult-classic comedy sitcom, _Horsin’ Around_ – BoJane Sugarman, right?”

 

“Um, yes-“BoJane looks over the woman’s shoulder, “I’m looking for Tina Chavez. She lives here, right? Because-”

 

“Of course. Come in.”

 

The woman holds the door open for BoJane, who hesitates for a moment before entering with an awkward laugh and nod. The woman tightens the belt around her mushroom-patterned bathrobe before she goes and finds Tina. BoJane feels even more awkward when she notices her bare feet and then looks down at her own muddy boots.

 

The apartment is rather…lavish. The furniture looks so brand new that BoJane thinks no one has actually sat on any of it. Not that the apartment doesn’t look lived in – there’s little mementos all over the place, the bookshelves have no dust on them and BoJane suspects there’s a stain or two under the mat by the coffee table. What especially catches BoJane’s eye though is the painting above the sofa. It is of an angel intertwined with a bird-woman floating above a sunset. It makes BoJane wonder if Tina is freeloading in this woman’s apartment, if she’s on another business venture or if…

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

BoJane jumps at the sound of Tina’s voice. She sounds so much older, but she still looks like Tina in her over-sized _I Love To Snooze_ shirt and fluffy slippers. Her arms are crossed over her stomach and she’s not exactly frowning but she is definitely not happy. BoJane shifts her stance and looks Tina in the eye as she presents the coupon.

 

“Sorry for barging in so late. I-I got this Starbucks coupon for my 6-month sobriety mile-stone. I remembered you always wanted their coffee but felt guilty giving them money, so I drove here and there was so much traffic and…Yeah.”

 

Tina’s furrowed brow eases and her arms are loosened and hanging by her sides. “Oh. Thanks.”

 

She takes the coupon from BoJane carefully so as to avoid contact. The thought stings BoJane in the chest. “So…you’re in rehab?”

 

BoJane laughs weakly and rubs the back of her neck. “Yeah. Dan helped sign me in way back. It’s been good. Next week we’re going on some hiking trip for community-building or something. My partner is this geezer Janis who has a nephew that does CrossFit so that’s gonna be a whole thing.”

 

“That’s great.” Tina smiles and BoJane smiles with hope back. “You look like you’ve been doing good too,” BoJane says as she gestures to the, well, room they’re standing in. Tina suddenly looks timid as she glances at the coupon in her hand.

 

“Tina, would you like some tea?” BoJane recognises the woman’s voice calling from what she assumes is the kitchen. “Love to, babe!” Tina calls back from over her shoulder. She turns back to BoJane hesitantly. A thought crosses her face. “What about you?”

 

BoJane feels a thrill through her fingers and talks before she thinks. “Well, if you insist.”

Tina gestures for BoJane to sit on the sofa as she orders her a tea. She still remembers how BoJane likes it -no sugar and milk. When BoJane sits on the sofa it squeaks awkwardly, but when Tina sits its’ as if she’s sitting on air.

 

“So, uh, are you dating again?” BoJane asks as she steals a glance at the copy of _Fried Green Tomatoes_ on the coffee table.

 

“Yeah. Her name’s Jude – I’m pretty sure you two have met before. She worked for King Carl.”

 

“Oh, Jude Bettawock, right?”

 

Tina nods and her eyes light up like it’s Christmas and she’s waking BoJane up to go ice-skating. BoJane didn’t think asexual women dated – no, actually, she didn’t think they dated _each other_. BoJane remembers when she first met Tina, she had thought that she was a troubled lesbian teen that had just watched _But I’m a Cheerleader!_ and gotten ideas. Turns out she is a lesbian, just not sexually. If that makes any sense. BoJane resolves to stop thinking about it and thanks Jude for the tea.

 

“Huh, _Jude Bettawock_ – sounds like a drag queen name, doesn’t it?”

 

“I do not get it,” Jude says after she’s blown on Tina’s tea.

 

“Well, it’s like-“ BoJane stops to look at how Tina leans against Jude and wraps her arm around her waist. She has that exact same warm feeling as when her group had taken turns to hug her at the end of her first week as she cried. “Nah, forget it.”

 

Jude tells BoJane about her current job as a human resources manager at a marketing company. Apparently her dry and rational approach is quite effective, and they quite blatantly wanted a minority representative – Jude being both an asexual woman and her mother being a horse. (BoJane feels rather smug about that.) Tina has a Patreon set up that are funded by people who want to watch Tina try and mostly fail at starting up products and services – which Jude has helped with. The two moved in together three weeks after meeting each other, which neither think is too fast.

 

BoJane couldn’t tell the difference between Jude being amused or bored but Tina reads her an advertisement in the airport. She laughs and squeezes her arm at the right times. As far as BoJane knew, Tina was never good at social queues, so in a weird way she supposes it makes sense she can talk so easily to someone so cryptic like Jude. Tina looks at Jude like she’s a kaleidoscope pattern. Like Jude pluck all the stars and moons in the sky and hung them in Tina’s eyes.

 

BoJane had never seen Tina so hopelessly in love with someone since Emeul – whom BoJane slept with, but she tries not to think about that.

 

It can only be assumed that Jude returns the feeling, considering she has tolerated Tina for so long. And how attentive she is when it comes to Tina. And how much she talks about her.

 

Hm. Maybe Jude isn’t so hard to read after all.

 

They don’t talk about BoJane as much. She explains her breakdown vaguely with little detail, and neither prod for it either. She talks about the weight she’s lost, the cravings she’s had less and the little, insignificant art projects she’s done with her rehab group. Tina seems impressed and Jude says it’s very fascinating. BoJane feels much less like a spectacle than she thought she would.

 

When their teacups are empty, Tina tells BoJane that it’s boggle night and BoJane tells Tina that it’s getting late. Jude gets up to set up the game in their bedroom as Tina greets BoJane at the door.

 

“It was nice seeing you, BoJane. Thanks for the coupon, again.”

 

“It was nice seeing you, too.”

 

BoJane expects Tina to say goodbye and gently shut the door but instead Tina is quiet. She looks pensive. “BoJane, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way…”

 

Her heart sinks and sweat is suddenly ice cold. She wants to call Janis immediately to come and pick her up because she doesn’t trust herself driving by any store for the next few miles.

 

“I mean, it’s great that you’re in rehab, and you seem better, but I don’t think I’m ready…” Tina sighs. “I’m not ready to be friends again.” BoJane feels an odd, sudden relief.

“I understand.”

 

“You do?” Tina says abruptly, her eyes blink owlishly.

 

“I mean, yeah,” BoJane shrugs, “I’m not ready either. I just came to say hello and see how you’re doing. And the coupon, of course. I…”

 

Tina looks at BoJane curiously, and BoJane feels sick with sentiment.

 

“I owe you a lot, Tina, that’s all.”

 

The two exchange smiles, say their goodbyes, and go their separate ways.

 

BoJane lingers in front of the Chavez-Bettawock door for a while and doesn’t know what to think. It was definitely better than her last reunion with an old friend she had betrayed. There was something missing, though.

 

On the second floor she joins a group witnessing the seal cradling her new-born baby in her arms. As she watches the mother caress her baby’s cheek, BoJane thinks about Tina’s new life with her new girlfriend and working in her unconventional job. And she feels proud.


End file.
